Unlucky Sengoku
by D. Milk
Summary: Sengoku's good luck is in jeopardy, but it turns out the only one who knows how to help is the only one he needs it for. But why is the scary Akutsu Jin so eager to help? And doesn't he like Taichi! AkuSen, AkuDan. CONTAINS SHOUNEN AI/YAOI.


**Pairings: **Akutsu/Sengoku

**Chapter Warnings: **shounen ai/yaoi

**Yamabuki High School**

**Track**

**Tuesday, October 14**

**3:14 PM**

Sengoku tugged his green and yellow Yamabuki scarf up over his chin, squared his shoulders and stuffed his hands in his pocket to fortify himself against the chilly breeze. He shuffled in his tan slip-ons, staring down at the grass beneath his feet as he listened to the words that his kohai muttered so carelessly into the crisp, dry air. Sengoku's neck instantly snapped into an upright position, his brows crinkled in confusion.

"What?" he nearly hissed, but his anger wasn't directed at Taichi. Still, the short, black-haired freshman failed to notice.

"It's true, desu!" he replied, nodding heartily. "And Akutsu-sempai said it's only a matter of time for you, desu, since the New Year is coming and—"

Sengoku narrowed his turquoise eyes in disbelief, reaching his hand under his scarf to slide his shooting star pendant back and forth across its leather cord. "What does _he_ know anyway?" snapped Sengoku. Taichi's eyes widened slightly, but he was far too upset to worry about hurting the freshman's feelings or his uncharacteristic bad temper.

Taichi instantly had the most annoying answer possible for this question. "Akutsu-sempai knows everything, desu!" he shouted, his brown eyes bugging out and his face flushing slightly. There was a period of silence as Taichi tugged the bottom of his pink sweatshirt, possibly trying to get more warmth out of the flimsy fabric. "Just face it, Sengoku-sempai. The more days that pass, the less—"

Taichi closed his mouth instantly as Sengoku pointed an accusatory finger towards his chest. "Pink is today's _un_lucky color!" he nearly shouted, his face flushing as the backs of his eyes burned.

The shorter boy furrowed his eyebrows. "But there is no unlucky color… You told me that there was only a lucky co—"

"There is now!" he screamed, turning and sprinting away. He could feel Taichi staring at the back of his head, just _staring_ at him, but he didn't care. If he hurts his feelings, there would be time to apologize later. Once he cleared the campus and Taichi's interested staring, he rubbed away the tears streaking down his face. If there was no way that Akutsu could've been right, then why was he crying? He speed-walked home.

Once he was there, he ran inside, kicked off his shoes and sneaked up the stairs, not saying hello to anyone. He closed his bedroom door, dropped his bag and scanned around the room. The feng shui was perfect, and he shuffled across the navy carpet carefully, as if the floor would fall through. He quickly closed the blinds and lit the vanilla scented candles before collapsing back onto his cloudy lilac duvet.

Here, he was peaceful. His hammering heart slowed, his frantic breathing became regular, and his tears dried up and didn't come back. Being in his room made him peaceful and happy. It was his place, where nothing bad could happen to him. Nothing that Taichi or Akutsu or anyone said could take that away from him. He inhaled the warm, sweet scent of vanilla, then scrambled underneath the blanket to warm up. He lay in bad, staring at the shadowy ceiling.

He was seventeen. He would be graduating high school in May. He was the captain of the Yamabuki High School tennis team. He had switched from chasing girls to chasing boys. His sister had moved out after graduating from college. He had gotten a cat. A lot of things had changed with Sengoku since he was in middle school, but one thing would _never_ change. He was nicknamed Lucky Sengoku for a reason. If Akutsu knew something that he didn't, then he would do anything to find out. Anything to stay Lucky Sengoku for as long as possible.

**Yamabuki High School**

**Cafeteria**

**Wednesday, October 15**

**12:32 PM**

Sengoku slammed his hands down on the table across from Akutsu, ignoring his leather jacket wearing, switchblade toting friends, who glared at him for being the gay, flirtatious tennis team captain that he was. "Akutsu," he began breathlessly, sliding his pendant along the black cord nervously. "I really, really, really need to talk to you."

Akutsu narrowed his dark, gold eyes dubiously at Sengoku, before uttering the single syllable word. "No." He returned to his lunch, and the orange-haired teen tapped the table impatiently.

"Pleeeease," he whined, before being seized by the collar of his shirt and thrown to the floor by one of Akutsu's bad-tempered friends, the one who's seat he had inadvertently stolen. Sengoku jumped back up, squeezing onto the bench, his body flush against the boy who had just assaulted him. "This is _super_ important!"

"Do you know him, Akutsu?" growled the boy murderously, and Akutsu stood up impatiently.

"Come on," he snapped, leaving the table in a flurry. Sengoku stood up and scampered after him, following him until they were standing in the hall, outside the cafeteria. "Are you all right?" asked Akutsu, and Sengoku nearly blushed. It certainly was rare for the tall, scary monster of a teen to show any concern whatsoever for anyone. He pushed back his wild, white hair. "They just don't like you because you're—"

Sengoku rolled his eyes and giggled. "Puh-lease," he snorted. "I've been through way worse than that…" He watched intensely as Akutsu's impassive eyes softened ever so slightly.

He grunted softly, then spoke in the same, harsh tone as ever. "So what do you want?" he asked. Sengoku frowned disapprovingly at him.

"Taichi _told_ me what you said…" he blurted, glaring at Akutsu's face to see if it changed. The corners of his mouth turned upward as he flashed a sadistic grin.

"Yeah," he said evenly, eyes roving over Sengoku's body in an I'm-bored-so-I-guess-I'll-just-check-you-out kind of way. "So?"

"So!" exclaimed Sengoku, willing Akutsu's gaze to return to his face. Unfortunately, it didn't. "Why would you even say something like that?" raved the shorter boy feverishly, stomping for effect. "You don't even _know_ about that at _all_, Akutsu!"

His grin widened. "It's true. Didn't you read your horoscope this week?"

Sengoku blushed deeply. "Of course I did!" he whisper-shouted, then glared at the floor. "I always read my horoscope…" Only that week, he really hadn't. What had it said? He couldn't ask Akutsu now after he had just lied, now could he?

"Then you should know," he purred, poking his finger into Sengoku's chest. "That your luck is about to run out…"

Sengoku felt his stomach dip, and his ears started to ring. Was that true? Had it really said that? Was it absolutely possible? "Why were you reading my horoscope anyway?" he demanded, clutching the wall for support.

Akutsu shrugged with a sneer. "I don't know," he replied. "I was bored."

"You're lying," snapped Sengoku with a forced smirk. "You're just trying to get me all worked up…"

Akutsu shrugged. "Think what you want," he replied, turning without warning to go. Sengoku watched him, inadvertently slamming against the wall with a sigh and wrapping his arms around himself. Akutsu was just so dreamy in a bad boy kind of way… Too bad he liked—

"Sengoku-sempai!" called a squeaky voice. Sengoku whipped around, unbridled anger and jealousy-hate written all over his tanned face as he glared down at Dan Taichi.

"Yeah?" he nearly growled, the corner of his lip twitching to expose his white teeth, clearly communicating an 'I-want-to-bite-your-ear-off' message. Taichi failed to notice.

"Muromachi-sempai wanted to talk to you, desu," he explained, tapping his pen against his notebook, an obvious signal that the team manager had just spoken with the vice-captain.

Usually, Sengoku would've been more talkative, but he'd much rather vent to his best friend about the freshman behind his back than try to make pleasant small talk to him face. "Thanks," he muttered, turning around to speed-walk down the hall, but Taichi caught him by the arm.

"What were you and Akutsu-sempai talking about?"

Sengoku paused before turning back to face him, studying the shorter boy's face with all the scrutiny he could muster, asking himself. Why did he want to know? Did he like Akutsu? Were they dating? Was he threatened by Sengoku? Did that mean that Sengoku actually had a chance? Should he lie? Or answer truthfully?

Sengoku's smooth lips parted, his mouth suddenly dry. Finally, he managed a parched, "Nothing." Taichi blinked his big brown eyes, and Sengoku ripped his arm away. He directed his eyes to the floor and again muttered, "Nothing…"

"Okay, desu," he replied innocently, and Sengoku just stared. What was he supposed to make of those two short little words? They could never answer any of his questions! Taichi walked away. Sengoku instantly wanted to follow him, to see where he'd sit, but that wasn't going to work. He wasn't going to be desperate. He just needed someone to talk to, someone who wasn't Taichi or Akutsu… Someone who was Muromachi Touji.

A/N: Okay, sorry about the short first chapter. I was a little anxious to get this published. Next chapter will be up very shortly. Please read and review, guys! Love you, kissy kiss.~

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis. No duh.


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